1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus and an image pickup method. More specifically, the present invention relates to enabling to display or record images picked up at high rate in real time by assigning bands of a memory in order to simultaneously perform writing image signals in the memory and reading the image signals from the memory for displaying picked up images and/or reading the image signals from the memory for recording picked up images at different frame rates.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image pickup apparatus, the movement of a subject can be displayed at a rate different from an actual rate by changing the frame rate of picking up an image of the subject (hereinafter this frame rate is referred to as a “pickup frame rate”) in the manner described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-125210). For example, if image signals obtained by picking up images at a pickup frame rate are played back at a frame rate lower than the pickup frame rate, slow-playback images, in which the movement of the subject is slower than the actual speed, can be obtained.